Ten thousand sick soldiers were never on our hands before, and the
mighty problem was not realized until the transports began to emit
their streams of weakness and walking death at Montauk. The
preparation was altogether inadequate for such a mass of misery, and
for a time all appeared confusion.
Then came severe, cruel, merciless criticisms; deserved in some cases
no doubt, but certainly not everywhere. The faults, gaps, failures,
were everywhere to be seen, and it was easy to see and to say what
ought to have been done. But the situation at Camp Wikoff from August
15th to Sep. 15th needed more than censure; it needed help. The men
who were working for the Government in both the medical and commissary
departments needed assistance; the former in the way of nurses, and
the latter in the way of appropriate food. The censure and exposure
indulged in by the press may have contributed to direct the attention
of the benevolently disposed to the conditions in the camp.
Then came the era of ample help; from Massachusetts; from New York, in
a word, from all over the country. The Merchants' Relief Association
poured in its thousands of dollars worth of supplies, bringing them to
the camp and distributing them generously and wisely. The Women's
Patriotic Relief, the Women's War Relief, the International
Brotherhood League, and the powerful Red Cross Society, all poured in
food and comforts for the sick thousands.
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